The roar of three hot strings

THE buzz that opens Jeff the Brotherhood's Heavy Days album could be a swarm of bees - or it could be an early sign of the excitement that would soon surround the Nashville brothers.

Jake and Jamin Orrall recorded Heavy Days in just three days and released it in 2009. The same year they played about 250 shows, taking their frenetic, yet brilliantly crafted songs far and wide across America.

Two years later they recorded We Are the Champions, also in three days, and again the pair toured relentlessly. In between albums they visited Melbourne, playing a handful of unforgettable shows in small venues, plus a blistering set at the Meredith Music Festival.

The signs were becoming clear that Jeff the Brotherhood, like the Black Keys, would be a name on the lips of more and more music fans with each and every album.

Fittingly, it was the Black Keys guitarist Dan Auerbach who worked with Jake (guitar and vocals) and Jamin (drums) on this year's Hypnotic Nights album, which had a major label release after their earlier albums were released on the band's own label, Infinity Cat Recordings.

There were other limited releases before Heavy Days as the brothers honed their sound, but the title track from that album best captures the build up to what has become a genuine roar of excitement - it's music that slips past the brain and goes straight for the heart.

At last year's gigantic Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago, the brothers played to a huge crowd in sweltering heat. The night before they packed a club called Subterranean on North Avenue and turned up the heat themselves.

''I was down to two strings on the last song,'' Jake told EG the next day, after his three-stringed guitar almost made it through a set featuring a handful of songs from Hypnotic Nights. ''We really enjoy playing the new material, its like a refreshing mist in your face,'' says Jamin with a chuckle.

Playing a three-stringed guitar might sound limiting, but that's exactly what Jake was aiming for when he and Jamin started banging about on instruments together at home in Tennessee.

"When we started I didn't know how to play guitar,'' Jake says. "I thought it would be easier to play if I simplified it [and] started with two strings, but you can't really play any chords that way, so I added a third string and that forced me to create my own style and approach."

Jake's style now extends to ripping songs and whole shows to shreds as he and Jamin build an impressive catalogue of music and bring it to the stage with startling effect. Their blend of stripped down psychedelic rock, pop and punk warmly embraces the best of those styles with generous lashings of humour, raw talent and passion.

''Every record we made before Hypnotic Nights we made in two or three days, so it was nice to go into the studio for a week and then mix it [and] use all the cool instruments,'' Jamin says.

''There was freedom to do whatever we wanted,'' Jake says, adding that Auerbach ''is a wild man; we called him wild man Dan, he's got quite a temper in the studio.''

So how did Auerbach and Jeff the Brotherhood, who Auerbach has since claimed are ''the next big name'' in music, come to be working together on their latest album?

''He came and knocked on our door,'' Jamin says. ''He just turned up and said 'let's do a record guys' and we were like, what are you doing here, this is weird … people have cell phones these days, you shouldn't just knock on peoples' doors.''

The musical union was the first time Jeff the Brotherhood worked with a producer. "It was Dan's first co-production, too, and it really worked,'' Jamin says.

''He let us do our thing and helped when we needed it,'' Jake says. "We write songs without anyone else in mind, so Dan brought in this idea of, 'well, you guys do what you do and I'll present it so everyone else will understand'."

Jeff the Brotherhood play the Big Day Out in Flemington on January 26, the Bridge Hotel in Castlemaine on January 23 and the Corner, Richmond, on January 24.

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/music/the-roar-of-three-hot-strings-20130103-2c6s1.html